Men's Volleyball

NO. 1 SPARTANS HOST NO. 2 UBC FRIDAY IN MARQUEE MATCHUP

Feb 07, 2018

Written by Jessica Bailey

LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 1-ranked Trinity Western men’s volleyball team (19-1) will take on the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (18-2) in a home-and-home series, starting Friday in Langley, with top spot in the Canada West standings on the line.

THE WEEKEND STORY
• With playoffs two weeks away, the Spartans take on their crosstown rivals in a critical late-season match. TWU and UBC are going head-to-head to see who will walk away on top in the regular season Canada West standings.
• A Spartans sweep or a weekend split would put TWU in the driver’s seat to capture the Canada West regular season crown. However, a Thunderbirds sweep would turn the tables and put UBC in a strong position to earn the conference’s top spot.
• Friday is the Spartans senior athlete appreciation night, when they will be honouring Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) and Mark Antoniuk (Langley).
• Schriemer has earned 3,306 assists so far in his career as a Spartan and is just 49 assists behind former Thompson Rivers setter Colin Carson for fifth place in Canada West history. Schriemer is currently leading Canada West with 10.81 assists per set.
• UBC setter Byron Keturakis (Surrey, B.C.) is second in Canada West with 10.57 assists per set. Keturakis enters the weekend with 2,369 career assists, which has him 17th in Canada West history and third amongst UBC setters.
• Keturakis leads Canada West in aces per set, at 0.72.
• TWU’s Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) is third in aces per set (0.60), while fellow Spartan Jesse Elser (Calgary) is fourth (0.57).
• Loeppky, who was this week’s Spartan Men’s Athlete of the Week, leads the conference with 4.26 kills per set and a .382 hitting percentage.
• UBC is the only team this season to have been ranked above Trinity Western in the regular season. Last week, the Thunderbirds jumped above the Spartans before TWU went back to the top of the U SPORTS rankings this week.